A Timeline of Police Shootings

According to The Seattle Times, Seattle police officers
Timothy Brenton and Britt Sweeney were ambushed when somebody pulled up
next to their patrol car and opened fire. According to KOMO, the
suspected shooter, Christopher J. Monfort, 41, was shot by three Seattle
detectives when he flashed a handgun.

According to the Spokesman-Review, while responding to a
domestic violence complaint, Dep. Ryan Walter and Dep. Rustin Olson (see
Oct. 24, 2010) fired a total of 11 rounds at Donald Lafavor, 65, after
Lafavor had pointed a gun out the door. The deputies had not identified
themselves as law enforcement.

Nov. 29, 2009 | Four police officers fatally shot; shooter
Maurice Clemmons shot and killed two days later by a Seattle police
officer

According to Pierce County Sheriff Paul Pastor, four Lakewood
Police officers — Mark Renninger, Tina Griswold, Ronald Owens, and Greg
Richards — were ambushed and killed in a Parkland coffee shop in
Lakewood, Wash. Less than 48 hours later, according to the Seattle
Times, the gunman, a 37-year-old mentally disturbed felon named Maurice
Clemmons, was shot and killed by a Seattle police officer. Clemmons, the
officer said, was armed, refused commands to stop and reached toward a
gun before the officer fired.

According to the Seattle Times, Pierce County Sheriff Dep.
Kent Mundell and Sgt. Nick Hausner were investigating a family violence
call in Eatonville, Wash., when David Crable, 35, opened fire on the
deputies as his 16-year-old daughter tried to pull away the gun. The
deputies returned fire, killing Crable.

According to KHQ, two deputies, Scott Bonney and Darell Stidham,
surrounded the house of Michael Young, 55, who threatened to commit
suicide with a semi-automatic pistol. When he started to raise his gun
toward the deputies, they fired. According to KREM, Young doesn’t
remember pointing the gun at the deputies. (He claims he was too drunk.)
The shooting was ruled justified by the prosecutor’s office.

According to a Spokane sheriff’s office press release, officers
Trevor Nollmeyer and Dion Mason were called to a neighborhood by reports
that White, a 46-year-old felon, was carrying a gun. White fired four
shots at officers from a semi-automatic laser-sighted gun. Nollmeyer
returned fire, shooting White twice.

In a recorded statement, Deputy Brian Hirzel says he was in his
unmarked car investigating a report of prowling when he pulled into the
parking lot near the greenhouse owned by Pastor Wayne “Scott” Creach.
Hirzel says Creach approached him holding a gun. Hirzel says Creach
refused to drop his gun, back up or get to the ground. Hirzel says he
hit Creach in the knee with his baton, and when Creach reached for a
gun, Hirzel shot him.

According to KXLY, two Sheriff’s deputies, Thad Schultz and David
Westlake, responded to reports of shots fired and found Sean Houlihan,
36, with a gun, which he refused to put down. The deputies shot and
wounded him.

According to Spokane County Sheriff press releases, Washington
State Patrol detective Sgt. Lee Slemp, investigating crack cocaine
suppliers, shot Keamia Powell, 24, in the shoulder. According to the Spokesman, Slemp said it was an accident. Powell, who was 39 weeks pregnant, gave birth shortly after being shot.

According to a Spokane Police press release, Quentin Dodd, a
50-year-old man had been threatening his roommates with a crude obsidian
“knife.” Deputies Rustin Olson and Todd Miller confronted Dodd. The
deputies say Dodd repeatedly screamed, “Shoot me”; threatened to stab
the deputies; and then charged at Olson. Olson fired his weapon three
times, killing Dodd. According to the Spokesman, a July police
report taken after Dodd had tried to kill himself by laying on train
tracks quoted Dodd as saying he “didn’t want to live anymore.”

According to a Spokane sheriff’s office press release, six police
officers responded reports of multiple shotgun rounds being fired at a
home on West Buckeye Avenue. Officers halted the pickup truck of Ethan
Corporon, 29, near the Shari’s restaurant at Monroe and Indiana.
Corporon exited his truck while carrying a shotgun and refused to drop
his weapon. When it looked like he was going to run into Shari’s, the
officers fired a total of 26 shots at him. He died at the scene, of two
gunshot wounds.

According to a Spokane County Sheriff’s press release, two
Spokane police officers, Zac Storment and Chris Douville, responded to
reports of an armed man at the Special K tavern in Hillyard. When police
arrived, they found Groom pointing the gun at his friend, Robert
Thompson Jr. The Spokesman quotes witnesses — including Thompson — saying that police shot Groom too quickly after asking him to drop the gun.